I had a few helpers over the many years that I worked. Some were great and others, not so much.

I am an impatient man at best and worst when at work. I had a long list of jobs to finish each day and a tough schedule to follow.

There was plenty of time for fun and laughter in our tuck while driving from one job to another, but I tried to keep my team looking professional when at work.

One day on a job, my helper disappeared at one point for quite some time. I was irritated of course.

I had to leave the apartment where I was working and try to find him. I had no idea of where he had disappeared to.

I had a few thoughts rushing through my head.

I usually worked in pretty bad neighborhoods and the chances of us being injured or worse were always a possibility. I once saw a fellow walking down the street with a rifle in a downtown neighborhood where guns weren’t used for hunting animals.

So the possibilities were many with few being good.

As I walked across the courtyard, I saw my helper sitting in a bedroom holding the hand of a woman as she lay in bed. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

I walked into the apartment and asked my sidekick, “What the heck are you doing in this apartment with this woman, a complete stranger?”

“Oh, her boyfriend asked me to sit with her while he went to the store, she isn’t feeling well.”

“What the heck were you thinking? This woman might have been injured by him and he may be making his getaway after calling the police on you. The possibilities are endless.”

The woman looked up with a faint smile as I argued with my helper. Meanwhile my work was not getting started and I was falling farther behind schedule.

“Now what are we supposed to do pal? I have work to do.”

We decided to keep an eye on her as we walked past her window many times while doing our job. She seemed fine if not a little long in the tooth to say the least.

She was still in bed but fine as we finished our job and went on to the next job down the road somewhere.

I still can’t believe that my helper was talked into doing something so stupid by a stranger, but then I had talked him into coming to work with me in these sometimes awful areas of Southern California.

Perhaps he was not as crazy as I was, come to think of it.

Don’t miss my book of short stories, “Sunrise, Sunset”, now on Audible.